This site was suggested by and is supported by the NEII Safety Committee. It is directed only to Jobsite Safety in the elevator/escalator industry.

At one time, employers rarely provided protective gear on construction sites, employees were expected to bring their own tools and construction workers had a certain macho disregard for safety equipment. The advent of OSHA 36 years ago changed the safety culture of jobsites nationwide. Nowadays, you can’t go onto a construction site without seeing everyone wearing hardhats – so much so that the hat has become a symbol of the trade. Since 1970, OSHA has helped cut workplace fatalities in half and reduce occupational injuries and illnesses by 40%. One in every five workplace fatalities, however, still involves a construction worker. That’s why elevator contractors now have more responsibility than ever to protect their workers in an ever-changing construction environment.

The Center to Protect Workers’ Rights published a revised report in July 2006 called “Deaths and Injuries involving Elevators or Escalators,” which noted that in 12 years (1992-2003), 173 deaths involved work on or near elevators. Elevator mechanics were the largest occupation affected, accounting for 54% of the deaths. The main causes of death for elevator installers and repairers was being caught in/between elevators and elevator shafts or machinery, followed by falls and being struck by objects. More than half of the work-related elevator deaths, especially electrocutions and “caught in/ between” and “struck by” deaths were caused by failure to de-energize elevator electrical circuits or failure to ensure that elevator parts could not move while maintenance and repairs were underway. Four of the seven escalator deaths also resulted from these causes.

Although the death rate for elevator installers and repairers is higher than average for construction workers, the injury rate is lower. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data for 1992-2001, the injury and illness rate for this group was 244 per 10,000 full-time workers. The major causes of lost-time injuries to elevator constructors were: being struck by an object, overexertion (especially in lifting), falls and being caught in/between, in that order.

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